


Enthralled in Your Footsteps

by blushinglily



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Awkward Romance, Character Study, Drama, F/M, Gen, Hints of voyeurism, Onderon, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, RFFA - Two Solitudes That Meet, Reylo - Freeform, Reylo Fanfiction Anthology, Two Solitudes That Meet, character introspection, rffa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-17 12:54:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16096091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blushinglily/pseuds/blushinglily
Summary: While the First Order converges in the Unknown Regions to go about rebuilding their armies after the collapse of the Supremacy, the Resistance takes advantage of their absence by finding refuge in Onderon, a planet located in the Inner Rim and remarkably, sympathetic to General Organa's cause.Within the fortified walls of its capital city and the temporary solace it offers, Rey finds herself fascinated by the abundance of exotic culture, but more than that...becomes unable to help herself to some much-needed time to contemplate her confused heart regarding one Ben Solo.Post-TLJ / One-shot





	Enthralled in Your Footsteps

**Author's Note:**

> As this is my first story written for Reylo, as well as my first time participating in an anthology project like this, please let me take the time to say what an honor it was to be able to do this! 
> 
> The members of the RFFA Mod team were spectacular beyond the stars, and they really helped me in improving the first two drafts (aka a jumbled mess) when I first conjured up this fic in my head! I had such a blast writing this fic, and if given the chance, I definitely want to participate in the next anthology as well! 
> 
> I hope you guys have fun reading this fic, as much as I had fun writing it! If you can, please let me know what you think!

* * *

When the lush greenery came into view of the Millennium Falcon's spacious cockpit windows, Rey wasn't the least bit surprised for her breath to have been taken away as quickly, just as it had been that bittersweet first time when she'd laid eyes on Takodana's towering trees. Her gaze then had been full of wonder and awe, and the remembrance of it was made all the more precious when she'd piloted the beloved aircraft with someone she'd eventually come to miss.

A fact that was much more than she wanted to admit to herself, having only known Han Solo for a short time.

Onderon was a planet that clearly boasted of an abundance in fertile soil and precious resources. Rey could see this as they neared the large, elegant maze-work of the planet's capital, Iziz. The city's walls stood high and mighty, the vines of the outside forests climbing along the ancient sediment, creating a vein-like network of patterns against the stone. Surrounding the massive city was an endless barrage of waterfalls and grassland with a number of four-legged species dotting the ground, ones she'd never seen before.

Rey smiled softly, her eyes widening. The iridescent wonder of vegetation and plants and _life_ would never cease to amaze her, and she committed the view to memory, planting the precious images in her mind like saplings to be nurtured and loved.

As she continued to admire the scene in front of her, Chewie's explanations of where they would be landing the aircraft in that odd, archaic tongue of his barely registered in her mind. She sensed that something seemed off about the planet, the voice of the Force within the caverns of her instinct seemingly singing louder.

Its voice today was not one she was accustomed to, compared to when her connection with Ben had opened. Usually the Force seemed content when those times had occurred, as if it were a mother-like figure, satisfied with the circumstance of her children.

But this time, the Force seemed almost... _drunk_ , for lack of a better word.  

_'From above, this place looks just like Takodana, but...'_ she wondered idly, her fingers curling around the controls, trying to concentrate on lowering the ship smoothly. _'...somehow, it feels a lot more different.'_

She shook her head, opting to think more on the issue later, and instead focused on following the Wookiee's instructions for landing, opening the comm links that would give them clearance to allow the battered freighter a place of reprieve. As Rey maneuvered the controls with an expert hand, she could hear the excited hums and voices in the ship beyond the cockpit. Poe's determined tone mingled with Leia's cautious words as Finn and Rose came over to greet them, their voices grim as they spoke of what the next step of the plan would be.

Within half an hour of clearing the atmosphere of the planet, the Millennium Falcon landed near the northern edge of the city. The landing pads were full of merchant air freighters and commercial ships, the Bivall, Twi-leks, and humans that populated the city blending together, the sounds of a thousand foreign languages ringing in their ears.

For someone who had spent her life in the desert only encountering the occasional human and a handful of other species when she'd make her way to Niima Outpost, the sight of so many hagglers and vendors going about their day to day business was as foreign to Rey as anything else she'd seen with the Resistance as of late. For what seemed like the hundredth time, she felt like a child, seeing the world for the first time all over again.

From the corner of her eye, Rey briefly saw Leia make a gesture for everyone to gather in the common area before they descended down the ramp, her cane gripped steadily at her side. Once everyone had come together and quieted down, she made her way along the small room, giving everyone the full force of her steady gaze.

"With our numbers dwindled like this, I thoroughly understand the dread I've been sensing the past couple of days," the General began, her tone weary, but no less direct. "Coming here to Onderon is perhaps a gamble right now, but after what we've experienced since Crait, it's our best course of action, despite the odds."

Having spent a considerable amount of time with the General, Rey now understood that Leia was not the sort of person to sugarcoat her words, no matter how much she might have wanted to offer a gentler sense of comfort to the members of their Resistance. Instead, what she preferred to give them was the unadulterated truth, but one laced with hope and confidence. Her words brooked no argument, no room for any sort of disagreement whatsoever. Or perhaps it was because of her indomitable spirit that no one dared to voice any objections towards her, this woman who seemed infinite, despite having shown signs of inevitable frailty in response to the loss they had to bear.

The general was a politician through and through with a straightforward demeanor. Rey couldn't help but let her thoughts wander to the last time she'd been with the General's son in that massive throne room aboard the Supremacy. The enigma known as Kylo Ren had seized power, forcefully handing her the naked truths she'd kept locked away for so long, and not long afterwards, he’d become the Supreme Leader of the First Order.

Hearing the General's speech, at once both blunt yet determined, it was quite obvious where Ben had gotten that forthright tongue of his.  

Rey let out a sigh, her lips thinning to a grim line as she strained for some part of her brain to pay attention to Leia's words.

It was a bitter pill to swallow, the disappointment she'd felt at her failure, the realization of her naiveté. Ben's choice had never been simple, and she had been foolish in oversimplifying his act of killing Snoke. Although the initial anger she'd felt—the self-righteousness that she'd persuaded her heart to hold onto and she'd used to gain the strength to shut Kylo Ren out of their connection—had finally begun to fade away into a simple, gnawing hurt, it didn't make her reprimands towards herself any less painful.

It had been downright _ludicrous_ of her to have gone to him without a solid plan in place.

She berated herself once more whilst consciously ignoring the simple truth that lingered in the back of her mind: _not an ounce of her_ regretted what she'd done. In spite of the raw disappointment, the savage trial of having faced the fact that the parents she'd so desperately wanted to meet were but bones and dust, buried beneath the sand, of having seen the extent of just how much weight Luke's wisdom had carried that night she'd fought him, the humility that coursed through her after finally understanding her own _arrogance_ —in spite of all of those things, it had been _worth it_ , to bear witness to the glimmer of light that was still inside Ben.

She could see it even now, the origins of his light, standing firmly before her and everyone else, giving them all something to hold onto, even as the General herself had borne so much more loss that it seemed even the pain itself had become dear to the former princess.

"Given the circumstances, I would not want us to stay on this planet for more than a few weeks or so. From what we've heard, the First Order hightailed it to the Unknown Regions for the time being, but that doesn't mean that they don't have eyes and ears posted all over the galaxy, including here in Onderon," Leia said, taking in everyone's nod of understanding. "But luckily, the overcrowded population of Iziz should be more than enough to provide a temporary cover for us."

"If it's not a long term location, then why go here?" a voice asked out loud.

It took a moment to register in everyone's minds that it was the first time since the meeting converged that someone had garnered enough courage to question the General, and, turning to the source of the voice, all eyes were abruptly on Poe Dameron.

Leia turned to him as well, her expression unfazed by the challenge in his tone. He'd come a long way in the short amount of time since realizing his mistakes with the bombers, but he was still a hothead at heart. Rey watched them both with keen interest, admiring the General's composed profile while somewhat disapproving of Poe's boldness.

"Because of the potential an acquaintance of mine who resides in this city has to offer," Leia replied simply enough, both her hands resting on the cane that now stood in front of her. "Onderon was, after all, an ally of both the Old Republic and the Rebel Alliance. There's merit in taking the opportunity to meet with them, as well as to gather supplies and intel while we're at it."

"'Was an ally'?"

The General shrugged, appearing to be nonchalant, the fingers resting on the tip of her cane tightening ever so slightly. "These are hard times, it's no surprise that a merchant planet like this would take on a neutral stance in such affairs. All the same, neutrality is a hundred times better than outright hostility, wouldn't you say?"

"So they at least support our cause, right?" Poe asked, his eyes becoming uneasy, his hands clenching and unclenching at his side, a thousand more questions reflected in his gaze.

"They're... _understanding_ of it," Leia answered truthfully, letting out a loud, exasperated sigh when Poe had the audacity to roll his eyes and shake his head in skepticism. "Enough with the high and mighty attitude, Captain. This is an hour of need for all of us, so we have to take what we can get and work the best with what we have."

With her eyes lingering over Poe's back, her lips set into a frown at his begrudging defiance, she made another gesture and dismissed everyone else, calling out that she would give further orders once contact was established with her mysterious acquaintance.

Moving closer to where Poe and the General stood, Rey decided to linger for a little while longer, smiling towards Finn and Rose when she realized that they'd decided to stay as well.

"How many times do I have to tell you to get your head out of your cockpit, Poe?" Leia asked, the commanding lilt of her voice dropping significantly, barely looking up from her reprimand to acknowledge Rey and the other two people in the room. "This is the best—no, in fact, I'll come right out and say it: our _only_ lead in weeks. The Resistance needs a new base, but we won't find it by needlessly looking around for another fight."

Poe remained quiet for a few minutes. His eyes wandered over the grimy walls of the common area, the dim lights browned with age, the containers full of tools scattered about, the open paneling over patches of old technology, the wiring within it exposed for all to see. The criticism in his eyes was almost palpable, and right then and there, Rey finally understood why he objected to this mission in the first place.

He most likely thought that their priorities were wrong, Rey thought with some annoyance, shaking her head inwardly. He really _was_ a trigger-happy flyboy, as Commander D'acy had recounted to her when she’d heard the the insult and silently witnessed the spat that had taken place between Vice Admiral Holdo and the captain. One look at the shoddy interior of the Millenium Falcon was enough for him to doubt what Leia had decided would be their best course of action, wanting instead, no doubt, to stock up on ammunition and X-wings and perhaps swiftly beginning the process of gathering as many new recruits as possible for their Resistance.  

The Millennium Falcon was the perfect metaphor of what had become of their group, and it made him feel insecure, exposed to danger against those who would ally themselves against their enemy. And of course, being the impulsive man that he was, he didn't want to wait around for the spark of hope that Luke had lit once more to gradually fan its fledgling flame across the galaxy.

No, he wanted to ignite it into a roaring fire all in one go, to bring another fight to the First Order, much worthier of what had come the last time.

Rey bit her bottom lip, fighting the urge to punch him in the face. The Force had taught her patience with herself, but not, it would seem, when it came to other people.

She wanted to kick him in the knees, to defend the honor of the Millennium Falcon and the hard work she and Chewie had devoted to her in the short amount of time they'd had together to fix her up. She may not look like all that much, but it was _this_ freighter that got them all safely out of Crait and more than that, out of the First Order's tracking devices. It was this freighter that lured the TIE fighters off, this freighter that saved her and Finn when they'd fought Kylo Ren, and that got them to this planet in the first place.

She wanted to shake him by the shoulders, implore him to have faith in what they still had...and what they could still accomplish.

But before she or Leia could say anything, Poe spoke once more, his voice subdued and quiet.

"I know—" he cut himself off for a moment, running a hand through his hair as he turned around to face the General, giving her a small, lopsided smile. "I know it wouldn't be wise to attack the First Order so soon...powerless as we are right now. But this _waiting around_...the politics of it, the intrigue...it's maddening."

Leia nodded in understanding, but refused to back down. "Patience is a virtue, Poe. Rebuilding won't happen in a matter of days, you know this. Everyone who died fighting for justice—all the losses, the pain and suffering we've all endured, none of them will be in vain. But in order for us to rebuild the Resistance and honor their memory, we have to plant it in the ground first. It's the only way hope can begin again."  

Another couple of minutes passed, before he finally nodded his assent, his face looking so much wearier, yet somewhat relieved for the first time in days.

"Besides," the General continued on, confidence returning with a vengeance. "I need you with me when I meet up with this old friend of mine. This mission for you will be classified as both bodyguard duty and a much-needed lesson in politics."

"And what does this old friend of yours have to offer that you find so much potential in?"

Leia smiled, her eyes brimming with anticipation. "Coordinates of a remote planet, uncharted and unclaimed territory like D'Qar and ripe for the taking."

Rey found herself unconsciously grinning at the General’s boldness, before turning away from the scene, intending to return to Chewie and the others to perform a post-landing maintenance check, before halting in place when Leia called her and the others over.

"As for you three..." the General said loudly right after stomping her cane hard against the floor, having sensed their presences much earlier than Rey had expected, but eventually acknowledging them all the same. "Don't go anywhere just yet. I have a mission to give to each one of you."

* * *

Rey had expected that she would be ordered to remain in the Millennium Falcon to perform repairs and to be a constant, soothing presence to the Resistance members who had witnessed her control of the Force back in Crait. With their morale as low as it was, she had willingly accepted the new, but somewhat uncomfortable role she'd been given as "the last Jedi", but Leia had been surprisingly adamant that she get some fresh air and to step away from their only means of transportation for the moment.

She had given her firm instructions to find their group some medical supplies, as what the Falcon had to offer was dangerously low. Leia properly armed her with a number of credit chips, gleaming gold and tucked snugly inside the purse around Rey's waist. While Finn and Rose were instructed to find rations and perhaps an inn for everyone to recuperate in that night, she was given BB-8 for companionship and as a guide around the city.

Leia's voice had been uncharacteristically soft, running a hand over Rey's cheek in a motherly gesture, imploring her to ease her mind. "The Force seems uneasy...it's flickering around you, Rey," she had said, her eyes full of acumen, a deep understanding of the energy field around them that the latter thoroughly envied.

For a brief moment, Rey had been close to asking Leia to be her new teacher. But she realized within a second of wanting to ask such a favor that it would have been selfish of her to do so. The General already had so much else going on without adding the burden of molding her powers in the mix.  

That's how she found herself wandering aimlessly through the crowded streets of Iziz, the droid next to her beeping once in a while in inquisitiveness and mild observation, giving subtle hints that it longed more to be with its master for the moment than with his scavenger friend. BB-8 liked her company in general, but the astromech and the pilot had been separated for quite some time since Rose and Finn had taken off for Canto Bight with it, and it hadn't been ready yet to part with Poe again so soon.

For her part, Rey didn't mind the solo mission--really an errand, more like. She'd been a loner all her life, and though she cherished her new family, the reprieve from the company of the General and others was...liberating, at least temporarily. Away from them all, she could give herself time to think, to clear her head as to how exactly she planned to tackle the problem of one, fixing her lightsaber, and two, improvising new techniques that would give her a better understanding of her powers, now that Luke had passed on.

Rey heaved a quiet sigh, rubbing her shoulders, suddenly feeling self-conscious. It was no wonder BB-8 didn't really want to be with her right now; her head was much too preoccupied with her own problems. Pausing for a moment, she knelt down and gave the droid a sympathetic smile, fixing the antenna on its head that had somehow become bent again, the apology apparent in her tone.

"I know I'm not the best company right now, so I'll make it up to you by fixing up your tool bay slots later when we get back to the Falcon. How does that sound?" Rey asked the droid playfully, patting its head when the astromech beeped an enthusiastic thank you and complimented how its friends were all so reliable.

They continued their trek along the stalls and markets that lined the roads, keeping a strict lookout for any vendors that would be selling tanks of bacta and medical supply kits. Walking a little bit further ahead, they turned towards a nondescript side street and were greeted with the sight of long rectangular tables propped up against the walls, numerous display cases arranged as to show off the glitter and shine of local and rare jewelry. An array of crystalline necklaces, rings, and bracelets that were probably worth more than all the combined portions she'd ever earned on Jakku, were arranged in neat rows, almost as if it were an endless stream.

The jewelry's brilliant lusters were protected from the rays of the sun under long awnings. A few of the vendors watched her closely; some of them trailed their gaze after her whilst she and BB-8 casually strode down the long aisle before turning away. Others remained intent on bargaining with their customers, pulling pieces out of their cases when a potential buyer seemed interested and returning them when a sale fell through.

"What about this lovely zersium bracelet for ten strands of that magnificent hair?" a vendor persuasively asked a humanoid woman who'd stopped at his booth to look at some of the pearls draped along an oval-shaped baton stand. The lady was pleasantly startled, consciously laying a hand on the long, thick braid that hung over her shoulder and past her hips, her cheeks pink with pleasure.

At the scene of such an odd transaction, Rey abruptly paused, letting out a quiet 'oof' when BB-8 accidentally bumped against the back of her knees. Trying to remain discreet, she watched as the woman perused through the other bracelets and rings, asking if the trade of her hair was only for the zersium bracelets.  

"Why, of course not!" the vendor announced with giddy excitement, readily opening his display cases to showcase the rest of his collection. "For any necklaces or rings you'd be interested to buy in this section, I would only ask for an additional six strands of your hair. For the pearls though, I would ask for thirty strands per piece."

Rey's eyes widened at the absurdity of the vendor's "prices."

_'Strands of hair for expensive jewelry?'_ she thought incredulously, her fingers unconsciously running through her wind-swept hair. _'What in the world is he going to do with pieces of hair?'_

But the lady simply squealed in delight, quickly pulling the hair tie loose from the base of her braid, hooking a finger through one of the knots and pulling down, letting her silver locks gracefully unravel before the vendor's eyes. The vendor had a hand clasped over his chest, clearly pleased and somewhat touched at the display before him, and for a moment, he held up his other hand, diving underneath the table and rummaging for a few seconds, before emerging again with a wooden case.

The young woman picked out two bracelets, one necklace, one ring, and one pearl bead, counting out the strands of hair as she plucked them from the top of her head, all the while Rey looked on, shaking her head, her mouth hanging open in disbelief.

_'Is this for real? Jewelry for hair?! How is that even remotely equal in value?!'_

Curiosity getting the better of her, Rey hurriedly walked up to one of the other vendors selling neutronium pendants and earrings. Picking out a random square-shaped charm, she held the bauble in front of the seller while her other hand pointed at her half-ponytail. "How much of my hair do you want for this amulet?"

* * *

After walking around for nearly two hours, Rey had come to the conclusion that there was something definitely strange going on around this sizable merchant town. Wanting to rest her feet for awhile, she and BB-8 stopped at a cantina, taking a seat at one of the empty booths while she asked the droid to see how much of the area they'd already covered.

The astromech beeped out some statistical data, and Rey made a mental note to cover at least a couple more blocks before she headed back to meet up with Finn and Rose.

Taking a sip of the cold broth she'd ordered along with a can of water, she looked at BB-8 thoughtfully for a moment, before she got up from her seat, crouching low so that she was eye-level with the droid. BB-8 tilted its head in curiosity, asking her if there was something she needed.  

"Based on the data you've gathered, can you give me a general price list of the tradables here?" she asked, her finger thumping next to the droid's antenna.

The droid shook its head and gave her some rough estimates, but nothing definitive that she could fully rely on the currency that the General had given her. While food rations could generally be purchased with standard galactic credits, other items such as mechanical cylinders and batteries were harder to pinpoint. Luxury items, such as clothing and shoes, were even more difficult to get an idea on, as the strange bartering system she'd witnessed at the jewelry stands seemed to be the more prevalent method of purchase.

Of course, while most of the sellers and vendors she'd met didn't object to the use of standard currency, it was much harder to bargain with them at the same time.

The innate scavenger's instinct she'd sharply honed over the years was thoroughly confounded by what she'd witnessed today. Even on a backwater planet like Jakku, although the usage of credits was of no use there whatsoever, the simple, unspoken law of equivalent value exchange had always been followed.

Portion pricing was based on the current demands of the mechanics of the galaxy whose sole purpose of making a pit stop on Jakku would have been to seek out specialized parts.

Following the trends of this demand, the number of portions received per each scavenger working for Unkar Plutt was based on three things: state, durability, and rarity. The better condition a component was found in, the more portions were given out. Subsequently, if the part still retained most if not all of its durasteel encasing and was found in one of the rarer, unexplored star destroyers originally from the Empire's massive fleet that littered the planet's surface, the portion price was higher still.

She'd survived on Jakku following those rules in order to make a living for herself, yet Iziz's crude bartering system made no sense. What kind of seller would willingly take a loss?

When she'd asked the vendor at the jewelry market what she could get with her hair, the old Twi-lek had only looked at her with a blank expression, one eyebrow raised in confusion before shooing her away from his wares.

By no means did it stop there. Before making her way to the cantina with BB-8, she'd also witnessed a  vendor selling pants and shirts ask one of her customers if they could compose a song for her, in exchange for three pairs. Another seller who made his living repairing furniture had asked one of their regular patrons if their rare exchange of two kisses, one on the cheek and one on the mouth, would be an acceptable payment this time around.

Obviously a good deal of the merchants here in Iziz found equal value to that of credits in other things— _non-tangible things_ , in exchange for their services and goods, but for the life of her, Rey couldn't understand what it was that they all had in common.

Dropping her forehead against BB-8's metallic surface, she let out another sigh and groaned in frustration, scratching her head as she complained to her friend, whilst the droid could only beep out a few words of comfort and reassurance.

"I don't get it..." she whined childishly, before getting back up and sitting back on the booth, slurping her bowl of cold broth in one gulp and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "How could these people find anything remotely useful in trivial things?"

Unfortunately, the droid had no simple answer for her, any more than what she herself could come up with. Dejectedly, she pushed the empty bowl aside and finished the last of her water, exiting the cantina afterwards, BB-8 faithfully at her side.

It wasn’t another twenty minutes before Rey and her mechanical companion finally found a quaint little shop that carried everything they were looking for, hidden away from the throngs of people who crowded the main roads. The sign that hung on the outside was old and crumbling, and from what she was able to glimpse from outside the shop windows, it didn't look like too many people frequented the place to begin with.

She tentatively stepped inside, the small bell hanging over the doorway swinging to announce her presence to whomever it was that owned the shop.

As soon as she'd walked into the small store, her nose was immediately assaulted by the strong scent of medicinal herbs and wildlife and the heady perfumes of natural flowers that seemed to cling everywhere they touched. Rey couldn't help but take in a deep breath, her eyes darting around to take in the atmosphere of the shop that seemed almost as if...it were cut off from everything else going on outside.

Rey tried to feel the Force around her, and once more, she felt that strange sensation again. The energy field that bound the universe together seemed to be off-kilter somehow, as if it were drunk, deliriously heady on itself and its power. It was something she couldn't even begin to explain in her mind, and as she was about to turn to the droid who'd followed her obediently, a voice spoke up from behind the counter, ancient and coarse, but not unkind.

"How may I help you?" the old woman called out, her head tilting to the side in part curiosity, part politeness. She sat on a stool, her hands folded neatly on top of the small enclosure.

"Oh! I'm looking to buy some medicinal supply kits, ma'am. And bacta, if you have it," Rey finished lamely, unable to turn away from the woman's intense gaze, despite the softness of her voice. She felt as if she were being watched very closely, the preserved flowers and roots dangling along the walls creating a false sense of peace and harmlessness. The entire shop looked like a tranquil garden she could have only imagined in one of her most desperate nights on Jakku, but the heavy perfumes that wafted in the air proved that this was most definitely not a dream.

Inwardly, she shook and cleared her head of such nonsense, pulling out a couple of credit chips from her waist bag. Trying to distract herself, she walked over to where the old woman sat, forcing herself to keep her voice steady. "The supplies I need are for a lot of people. Do you allow purchasing in bulk?"

The old woman merely stared at her for quite some time, her eyes roaming over her customer's body in a critical sort of manner. Her fingers tapped on the surface of the counter and she took her time to answer.  Rey couldn't help but cross her arms over her chest, unconsciously backing away a little bit from where she stood.

Finally, the seller shook her head and let out a small, apologetic smile. "Buying in bulk is not a problem. I have plenty of stock for the bacta and supply kits, but unfortunately..."

Her voice trailed off, expecting Rey to understand what she wouldn't utter out loud.

"'Unfortunately?' Are your stock reserved for someone else?" Rey asked her, her shoulders slumping in disappointment.

"Oh no, not at all," the old woman replied easily enough, waving her hand in front of her face, her eyes twinkling with amusement, before lifting a hand to point at the credit chips Rey held in her hand, shaking her head. "Only that, I don't accept credits as payment."

"What? Why not?" Rey blinked, looking down at the stack of credit chips in her hand. "I'm not going to try to bargain down medical supplies, seeing as you prefer me not to. I know how hard it is to come by them, if that's what you're—"

The old woman let out a throaty laugh, interrupting the younger girl. "You misunderstand me, my dear. I couldn't care less about how much you're willing to pay me for my products. Simply put, I don't accept credits. That's all."

"But...but why not?" she asked again, biting her lip. She'd been walking for hours, her feet were tired, and she wanted nothing more than to return to the Falcon and get some sleep. The last thing she wanted to deal with was this old crone's sassy attitude, which she definitely did not expect upon first glancing at the woman.

For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, Rey felt out of her depth, as if something fishy was going on right underneath her nose and no matter how much she wanted to pinpoint what it was, she still couldn't figure it out.

"You're not from around here, are you?" the old woman asked (a little too comfortably for Rey's taste), stepping down from her stool, walking around the counter to get a better look at the younger girl, bringing a wrinkled hand to cover her smile, the scarf around her face obscuring most of her neck and shoulders. "I could tell right away, your confusion is written all over your face."

Rey was unable to say anything to that.

What was _she supposed_ to say? It was not as if she was some clueless tourist. Well—okay, maybe that wasn't so far off from the truth, but it wasn't the entire truth either. She bit her lip and nodded her assent, giving her a polite cough as she opened the purse and returned the credit chips inside. She rested her hands on her hips afterwards, giving leave for the other woman to continue.

"To outsiders, our ways here in Iziz must seem strange. I'm sure you've noticed—we're a merchant town, but not in the usual way that a normal merchant town works. Have you seen any odd transactions take place during your stay here?"

"Hair in exchange for jewelry was probably the strangest one I've seen yet," she replied without hesitation, her cheeks becoming pink when she realized how blunt her admission had been.

"Ahh, Ark-Smi, the jewelry seller. I know him. He has quite a fine collection of hair in his house. Some of the finest in the galaxy, I daresay," the woman nodded, as if she were remembering a fond memory. "Although I find it hard to believe he would have wanted _your_ hair. Ark-Smi has always had a taste for the more exotic."

This old woman was probably born even before the Old Republic existed, yet savage and brusque as the General herself. Rey would have appreciated the crone's sharp tongue a lot more if she hadn't felt so cranky and tired. "What use would he have for hair that he would be willing to sell expensive jewelry for it? It's foolish to take a loss like that."

"And what made you think he wanted the hair just so he could have some use for it?"

Rey was taken aback by the retort. "Well, umm...why _did_ he offer the hair as an option of payment then?"

Once again, the old woman stared at her for a long moment, as if refreshed by the younger girl's innocence, before answering. "I wouldn't know the whole story, but his mother had been a hairdresser once, you see. He'd been surrounded by beautiful hair all his life, it's not a surprise he cherishes pretty hair when he sees it."

She could only blink at the old woman's brief story, unable to say anything else. _He wanted the hair because it was pretty? Where was the sense in that?_

"Here in Onderon...more so especially in this city, _beauty_ is of the utmost importance to us, you understand?" the old woman quietly explained to her, moving closer to Rey, taking her hand between her own. "But of course, everyone has their own definition of beauty. For Ark-Smi, his collection of hair. For others, dyes that make up an array of colors, the smells of delicious food, the shape of leaves, and so on and so forth."

"Are such things really worth all that much?"

"Then what of you? What is your definition of beauty then?"

Rey opened her mouth, then closed it again, unable to answer her. The question itself was...too deep, too broad for her to even think about. And besides, she'd never really considered it. Beauty wasn't important to her. It was a superficial thing, and more than that, useless in the grand scheme of things.

She felt her temper rising; she had other problems to deal with besides this woman's philosophical questions.

Gently slipping her hand from the woman's hold, Rey nodded resolutely and gave her a terse smile, before turning around to make her way out of the store, BB-8 rolling next to her to follow suit.

Onwards, then.

But it seemed that although she had thought herself done here, the old woman was of a different opinion.

"I don't accept credits, but don't you want to know what I _would_ accept as payment?" the seller called out to her, taking out a small holoprojector from her pocket.

Rey slowly turned around, her expression uneasy, but the curiosity in her eyes couldn't be denied.

See, this was the wonderful thing about tourists, the old woman thought as she made a gesture for the young woman to step away from the door and listen to what she had to say. It was so dreadfully easy to catch their attention, and besides, this one seemed like an honest one. In the decades she'd lived as a seller of medicine and other supplies, she'd had her fair share of cheaters who'd wanted to take advantage of Onderon's merchant culture of unusual adoration and worship of all things beautiful.  

Never before had she encountered someone who was just utterly _perplexed_ by it. And more than just trying to make the effort to understand (though she was also an impatient young chick, that she could also see), she was genuinely curious about it.

This girl was just so utterly... _girlish_.

Cruelty, no matter how intentional and tempting an option it was to take, didn't come naturally to this woman. And for that, the old woman's own curiosity was also piqued—enough that she was willing to give her a chance, should she take it.

* * *

It wasn't so much the fact that it was particularly hard to recreate the dancer's movements in the holovid, not really. In fact, quite the opposite. The dancer had utilized her hips more than anything, sashaying from side to side, her midriff curling so elegantly that it almost looked like the wind itself was bending to her whim, her eyes closed serenely as if she were having the best dream in her life, her glossy lips desirable.

The woman in the holovid looked downright _gorgeous_ , alluring and seductive. But it wasn't just her slim body or pretty face that made her the epitome of all those adjectives; frankly speaking, it barely accounted for half of the reason.

No, it was _so_ much more than that.

Rey bit her lip in frustration, shaking her head vigorously as she tried once again to twirl her quarterstaff more slowly, languidly, rather than the usual flourish she was more accustomed to performing.

It was the dancer's confidence that made her so mesmerizing to watch. The unabashed way in which she'd flaunted her olive skin, that devastatingly exquisite, hourglass figure, the bare shoulders dotted with freckles from the harshness of the sun, the sultry gaze the dancer knew could easily inspire anyone's lust. She knew her charms and knew how to use them _well_.

Rey didn't really know if she possessed _any_ sort of charm, physically or even with her personality. She'd spent so much of her life scowling and daydreaming more than anything else while she'd lived on Jakku, the occasions for smiling happily, let alone _seductively_ , were few and far in between.

If this was indeed the old woman's definition of beauty, she had good taste, if not somewhat lacking in originality. Rey had seen enough of how the expensive pleasure slaves looked and pampered themselves in the desolate wastelands of her home world to know that for many, _that_ was beauty itself incarnate.

_A woman who knew herself intimately and without a shadow of doubt was one to be both admired and feared, after all._

The dance itself was easy to pull off, but the emotions she was supposed to convey were trickier to mimic. When Rey danced, she didn't really _feel_ confident, just ridiculous. Her body simply wasn't made for dancing, and that was a fact. Quite the contrary: the muscles on her arms, the flat abs of her stomach, her steady, determined gaze: her body was her most important tool, one in which she regularly kept in peak physical condition for the sole purpose of _surviving_ , not to impress strangers.

Finn's reaction was interesting to watch. He grew up a stormtrooper and as such, he'd never even _seen_ a person dance before, much less realized that there was more to the synchronized movements of the human body than just fighting.

Rose had been simply uncomfortable with the entire thing.

"So the old woman wants you to show her some dance moves before we can buy anything from her shop?" she had asked incredulously, her expression full of skepticism.

Suffice it to say that she and Rose pretty much had the same mindset. And beyond that, Rey was much too shy to dance in front of the others, let alone Poe or the General.

So no, she had no benchmark for beauty, nor any tangible way to judge it from the others. None at all.

But still...it didn't mean she wasn't _curious_ , if she really wanted to be honest with herself. She'd wondered on more than one occasion what it would be like to have the sort of body that could inspire someone's admiration. She never allowed herself to dwell in the mire of that particular idea for too long, not when it would only lead to harder questions she wasn't yet ready to answer.

She raised the staff above her elbows, leaning on her left foot, tensely closing her eyes as she moved her hips back and forth, trying to arouse that same sense of self-assurance she'd seen the dancer grasp with her entire being, effortlessly, as if she'd had it all her life and always would. Distantly, she felt the prickle of the Force around her, that odd sense of drunkenness and ease and fought the urge to go along with it, much too afraid to let her guard down.

She must've been concentrating too hard, because all too soon without warning she felt the world fade away from her ears, that familiar perception in the back of her head when a shiver of the Force would run down her back, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end.

When Ben discreetly coughed from behind her, his face slightly flushed at the sight in front of him, of course her only reaction was to stand her ground, her weapon poised directly in front of her, her lips turned into a snarl.

It took her a full minute to realize that he was just standing there awkwardly, his hands clenched tightly at his side, his lightsaber still clipped to his belt, making no move whatsoever to defend himself against her. He was blushing from the roots of his hair, and his lips were set in a grim line, no doubt clenching his teeth but trying his hardest not to bare them against her.

They stood, facing each other for a long time, motionless, neither one of them knowing what to say or do. Of all the scenarios that Rey had pictured in her mind of when they would eventually face each other once more since she'd been the one to close the connection the last time, _this_ was definitely at the bottom of her list, if there had ever been a time she came up with this scenario and simply couldn't remember it.

The inevitable eventuality of the truth was somehow always stranger than fiction.

"How—how long have you been watching me?" she tried to ask him firmly, breaking the silence, but her voice just sounded breathless, and try as she might to summon any semblance of anger, she really couldn't.

The absurdity of their current situation had rendered her completely blank, if not embarrassed as hell. She'd been caught off guard, and how _cruel_ the Force was, to bring them together like this after so long. How crueler still, that they could easily fall back into this shaky truce, just as it had been when they'd touched hands across the galaxy, when he'd listened to her greatest fears.

It couldn't have been so simple as this...could it? It had been weeks since they'd last seen each other. She had honestly thought the bond was gone for good.

"Not long..." he murmured, taking a deep gulp, his left eye twitching. He couldn't meet her eyes, not when his gaze wandered over everything else, trying to discern her surroundings to no avail. "Were you training? I've never seen that stance before. Is it for offense or defense?"

Rey fought the urge to laugh, but chose to keep him in ignorance. "Hmph. As if I would tell you. And of course," she answered, trying her hardest to coat her words in bitterness and disappointment, anything to hide her nervousness. "For the next time we meet. Mark my words, when you face the Resistance, we'll be—"

"It suits you..." he said, albeit a little too fast. She almost didn't catch it, his hands curling and unfurling at his side, creating unsightly wrinkles on his leather gloves, his voice cracking with mortification, as if the compliment had fought its way out of his throat. "It—it suits you a lot more...fighting with the quarterstaff, I mean. You looked—powerful. _Stunning_."

"I...I did?" Rey was surprised she had it in her to reply back to him. Earning a compliment from Ben, although it wasn't as if she had been fishing for one, was...she didn't know _how_ to describe it. The fact that he was even capable of complimenting another person was—in and of itself—impressive, to say the least.

He nodded, his eyes sincere.

"Yes. You're a natural with long-ranged weapons, I think. The next time we fight..." He paused and held his breath, taking another gulp, before speaking once more, his voice coming out as a low whisper, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face. "For our next duel, I've no doubt...you'll be a sight to behold."

But before she could say anything in return, he had disappeared from where he stood, the world coming back to her once more.

* * *

 

The old woman had given her four days to put some semblance of a performance together. It was now the third day, and for the most part, the dance routine she had prepared was coming along decently. She had memorized her moves, the twirls of her staff, how long the dance would last.

She'd even managed to put together an outfit that accentuated the curves of her waist, the swell of her breasts, the lines of her legs that made her appear slightly taller than she really was. Her arms were wrapped in sheer, see-through cloth, light and cool to the touch, creating the illusion of slim arms, rather than muscled ones.

She had just finished making the final touches, wearing a red flower clip that the General had encouraged her to purchase off of one of the jewelers she'd met (this time, someone who was more open to accepting credits).    

For a dirt-poor scavenger, she could even say she would have made a decent pleasure slave for the traders back home on Jakku to fawn all over.

Rey looked at herself in the mirror that hung on the cramped 'fresher of the Millenium Falcon, turning this way and that, wanting to admire herself, but not so much as to come off as arrogant. The tips of her ears were dusted in a dark pink color, and she couldn't keep the smile off her face, even as she tried to look as irresistible and provocative as she possibly could.

It was no easy task, by any means. Traces of baby fat still lingered on her cheeks, and her eyes had always looked too alert and cautious for them to be recognized as anything else.  

_"For our next duel, I've no doubt...you'll be a sight to behold."_

Ben's words rang in her ears for what must have been the thousandth time, a guilty shiver of pleasure running down her back at being on the receiving end of such candid flattery. Rey shut her eyes tightly, bringing a hand to stifle whatever noise threatened to come out of her mouth.

Truth be told, she wasn't used to flattery or compliments, not really. Of course, she'd experienced the occasional cat call and whistle from some of the more unsavory scavengers she'd worked with (and in turn, they received a harsh blow on the head if they'd ever tried anything funny). They hadn't acknowledged her for her skill of being able to successfully and safely disengage a power converter or for her ingenuity at combining three power cells together to boost the agility of her speeder.

No, they just made the moves on her because they thought, foolishly, that she was available and a quick pick up.

She ran a comb through the length of her hair, her eyes twinkling at the way the glimmer of the clip shone against the light, as if the flower were frozen in time, made solely to adorn her head, her mind unable to help itself from wandering whilst she hesitantly took some time to pamper herself.

Rey wondered if Ben had the same inexperience with complimenting people, in the same way that she had the same inexperience of being on the receiving end of them. It wouldn't be a big surprise, Rey thought with some amusement. It's not as if he was a _nobody_ , after all; if anything, she would have guessed that he was more used to _receiving_ compliments, thinking about it now.

And besides, the fear and terror he'd inspired across the galaxy and even still, within the First Order, in its own way, was a compliment in and of itself.  

She'd seen it in rare times, the bits of arrogance that Han Solo had conveyed when she'd first met him, in the way he'd dealt with the Guavian Death Gang, and in the way he'd tried to forcibly take the Millenium Falcon from her, even if she'd been the one to "fairly" steal it from Unkar Plutt. She'd seen it too in General Organa, that noble and proud bearing of hers, that upturned, slightly pouting mouth that could have been interpreted as haughty, rather than headstrong.  

Having grown up with such parents, knowing the legacy he carried: it made Ben's entitled sense of  arrogance somewhat more easy to read now, if not even _more_ unbearable.

Her anger was still there; it wouldn't go away that easily, no matter how shell-shocked she'd been at having realized that he had _watched_ her dance, even if he hadn't known exactly what she was doing. The instinctive, familiar rage of the accusations she’d wanted to hurl at him had been ready to leap from the tip of her tongue, and in retrospect, he looked as if he’d felt the same way.

The aftermath of their time together in the Supremacy and the battle they’d both fought in Crait hovered between them like a savage whirlpool, a gaping, insidious maw, which neither one of them had the fortitude to tackle right now, try as they might and however much they _wanted_ to.

Even amidst all that, Rey couldn't deny that without doubt, he had made her feel beautiful, feminine, beguiling, _desired_.   

It was a heady piece of knowledge all on its own, despite his clumsy delivery.

Once again, she found herself teetering on the edge of the dark side. How easily she could see herself falling for the trap that Ben Solo had unwittingly set up for her, how she could run away with such a thing and be swept away by it, until she no longer knew who she was. That a man such as himself could inspire such confidence in her heart, the vital piece she had been missing since deciding to take on this unusual endeavor… She didn't know what to make of it.  

She had but one conclusion from all this: Ben Solo, whether or not he really knew it himself, had the frustrating ability to make her heart _race_.

However, like with all things in her life recently, it was best not to think about it too deeply for the time being. As with the subject with her parents, if she were to go down this particular hole, she didn't yet know if she would have the courage to face the truth.

The one truth that had been staring back at her this entire time.

* * *

"You look cheerful today," Finn observed with a playful smile, rubbing a blade of grass between his fingers as he watched her practice her dance routine in the open clearing behind the Falcon. The humid summer heat had given him no choice but to strip down to his undershirt and pants, his burly muscles gleaming under the sun.

Rey returned the smile with one of her own, her staff effortlessly balanced on the back of her hand as she bent her neck slightly backwards, the end of her cross wraps swaying against the light whistling of the wind. "I think I'm finally getting the hang of this."

"Good to know. It looks like you're even having a little bit of fun," he said, nodding his head in approval. "You've been out of sorts lately before we got here, but it looks like everything's been sorted, I take it?"

She paused for a moment, shaking her head before lifting her gaze to the skies, her expression thoughtful, resolute. "Far from it."

"Huh. So what's got you beaming from ear to ear then?" Finn stood up from where he sat and made his way towards his friend's side, leaning against her shoulder, biting his thumb between his teeth. He regarded her as if she were a younger sibling who'd gotten into some trouble, and he, being the metaphorical older brother, would rather join in on the mischief, instead of doing the responsible thing and reprimanding her. "Did something good happen?"

"Of a sort, yes."

Finn waited for a moment, before stepping back, slipping his hands in his pockets, his eyes bright with eagerness as he shrugged in expectation. "So, you gonna tell me?"

But Rey only could only remain quiet, whacking him gently across the shoulder, biting her lip, her smile bashful and hesitant. "A story...for another time."

Her friend sighed loudly in disappointment, his shoulders slumping. "Ahh Rey, you can't leave me hanging like that! What, are you waxing poetic now like Maz?"

"No, not really," she answered, restarting her dance, turning away from him as she dipped her body low, swinging the staff through an arch, her hips following the movement of her weapon in tandem. "Only that rewards come willingly to those who wait in patience and wisdom, as they say."

Her companion let out a groan, scratching his head in mock annoyance. "Oh yeah, uh huh, you're definitely doing a Maz right now."

Rey let out a stifled giggle, saying nothing more, before twirling her staff in the air, her feet sweeping across the dirt in a series of steps, catching the weapon in time when she finished her move with a flourish.

* * *

The medium-sized inn that the General had chosen for all of them to stay at was comfortable and cozy, but it did nothing to soothe the tension that Rey felt within her chest.

It was the night of the fifth day, and she sat alone next to the windowsill of the room she shared with Connix and Rose, her eyes glued towards the night sky, while below, she could catch a glimpse of the small garden in the courtyard.

Her fingers tapped impatiently at her side, and for a brief moment, she glanced at the other two women sleeping soundly on the futons provided for them. She could hear Rose's quiet, child-like snores and could just faintly make out Connix's lustrous blond hair, fanned out against the pillow, her expression peaceful.

Hugging her knees to her chest, Rey let out a shuddering breath she didn't know she'd been holding back, willing drowsiness to come to her.

She felt herself getting antsy. Truth be told, she'd _been_ antsy since her last meeting with Ben, her toes curling in frustration, her impatience almost threatening to overwhelm her mind, the impulsive side of her nature unused to being held back.

_Waiting, waiting...all her life, all she ever did was waited._

Rey honestly couldn't _explain_ it, not even to herself.

It was almost as if her body was frozen on an infinite loop while she waited for _something_...anything, really, her instinct urging the Force to fling it to the foreground of her mind, but she didn't exactly know what. She'd been so distracted with her dance practice that she hadn't found time to contemplate what it was that was rumbling all around her head. Now, alone and wide awake on the eve of her performance for the old woman, she felt her emotions had begun their relentless assault on her.

She was used to waiting; it was one of her few talents. But what in the world was she waiting for _this time?_ She had tried to meditate on an answer earlier in the day, but her efforts had come to nothing.

_What was it that had her so much on edge?_

"Kriff..." she murmured, laying a hand over her eyes, shaking her head.

She turned to gaze out of the window once more, her fingers having resumed their impatient tapping. Rey implored the stars to give her answers, but alas, all she heard were the quiet sighs of her sleeping friends and the buzz of the evening beetles outside, cheerfully chirping away.

* * *

The old woman was quite thorough in accommodating her, hiring a musician to play the music she would be performing to, although the entire dance was only supposed to last about five minutes at most. The front of the shop had been cleared for the day, and in front of the entrance to the store was a makeshift stage, a grey-colored rug with white patterns of geometrical shapes all laid out for her.

Most of the members of the Resistance had taken a break for an hour to watch her perform, all of them giving her generous words of encouragement whilst Finn and Rose helped her get ready, carrying her other set of clothes that she would change into afterwards. Poe and the General had set off for the day,  though the latter regretted not being able to see Rey's efforts come to fruition.

She sent clear instructions for Connix to recount every single detail to her later on, and for R2D2 to take a transmission of the last Jedi’s dance from start to finish.

"Remember our deal," Rey reminded the old woman who'd brought out her stool to sit under the shade of the long awning that hung below the shop sign, nodding once towards the inside of the small store. "If I impress you with my dance, I get however much I need out of there, no holds barred."

She moved towards the center of the large rug, taking a deep breath, her heartbeat steady, her quarterstaff held loosely in her hand. She swung her arms forward for a few seconds, loosening the tension from her body, her nerves still somewhat on edge.

"Of course," the seller nodded in solemn agreement, her hands folded neatly on her lap, her cane leaning against the wooden frame of her doorstep.

The musician stood on the other side of the rug, patiently waiting for his employer's signal whilst Rey took her place, waiting for the old woman to give her the go-ahead.

And then she felt it, the loud rush of noise around her intensifying for a split second before everything seemed to draw back into herself, as if an invisible hand of the Force had caressed the very surface of her spine. The world became muted, distilled, all else except for the hushed sounds of her breath and Ben's.

Her eyes widened, frozen stiff for a few seconds, and in her shock, she almost dropped her weapon, momentarily forcing herself out of her stance.

_Of all times—of all times for them to connect, it just had to be now—?!_

She let out a shaky her breath, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

The Force was so much more cruel than she could have ever imagined _—_ it was downright _devious._

Rey knew that they still couldn't see each other's surroundings, but it didn't make the hysteria that was about to burst forth from her mouth any better, nor the storm of embarrassment and paranoia she felt swirling in her head.

_He was going to see her dance! He was going to see her dance, and the Force being so duplicitous, she just knew in her gut that she would, without rhyme or reason, fall flat on her face, trip over herself, because really, the_ **_scavenger_ ** _learning to dance—that's laughable!—and more than that, he was going to deduce where the Resistance was hiding because_ **_why_ ** _on all corners of the galaxy would she have any occasion to dance, he'd never taken her more for a dancer than a fighter and just what the hell—_

Her breath shuddering, her hands clenched tightly around her weapon, enough that her knuckles turned white. She could hear the thrum of her heartbeat pounding loudly in her ears, and she willed the Force to break the connection between them, _begging_ it to give her clemency.

But the Force was the living will of the universe, and in that moment, its wish was to allow Ben to watch her while she danced.

She felt her cheeks become hot, but she fought her chagrin and persuaded herself to find her ground. She closed her eyes for a second then opened them again, positioning herself  towards the center of the rug once more.

The old woman looked at her strangely, startled, and Finn and Rose made a move to walk towards her, but she stopped them with a gentle shake of her head, giving them a reassuring smile. She tried to scan the small crowd in front of her, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Get out! Hux, Peavey _—_ all of you, out!" she heard him bark out, her shoulders flinching involuntarily, his face most probably contorted into a snarl, his voice terse with the command of his position. "We'll reconvene in an hour, I wish to be alone!"

_Behind her. He was right behind her._

She felt his gaze watching her every move, his breathing heavy with tension. She didn't dare acknowledge him, for fear of what either one of them would find in each other's eyes.

Rey simply nodded towards the old woman, and the musician began to pluck the strings of his instrument, his head bobbing along with the music he created. At the sound of the angelic tune ringing loudly in her ears, at last she felt a flood of relief course through her, the sweet notes filling her head where there was once dread and nervousness.

_If she lost herself in the song and in the dance, there would be no need to face him, not yet._

And that's what she forced herself to do, her legs sweeping to the side as she lifted her weapon high in the air, twirling it between her fingers, her eyes closing slowly as she let the music wash over her, taking her someplace beyond where she was then. She sashayed her hips languidly from side to side, mimicking with all her strength and imagination the natural air of enticement she had seen the woman convey from the holovid. She whipped her hands in front of her, swiftly tugging her hair loose to pool around her shoulders, wisps of brunette locks dangling over her forehead.

Throughout her dance, she felt his eyes trail over her shoulders, her fingers, her legs. There wasn't anything lewd in his gaze—nothing predatory or menacing _—_ she felt none of those things. Her instincts weren't screaming at her to defend herself against him; quite the contrary, he had unwittingly left himself vulnerable _to_ _her._

If anything, the Force around him and the shields separating his thoughts from hers seemed to be filled with _awe_ , as if he were mesmerized, spellbound by her, as if her dance had transported him into another world entirely, in the same vein that the song guided her body away from her own doubts.

Rey felt powerful _—_ adored, _coveted—_ and what a sumptuous, delicious feeling it was, to finally understand that she possessed a talent to entice a man such as him, this powerful warrior born from a legendary legacy, one to end all other legacies, that a mere scavenger such as herself could utterly _tempt_ him.

That she could show herself to him, not just as his equal in the Force, but _a force unto herself_  to draw out his desire, his respect, his admiration.

In her mind, she stood at the edge of a precipice; she had kept her head bowed this entire time, but all she had to do was lift her eyes to finally meet his, and she would be falling down that imagined cliff she saw herself linger at the edge of, her descent leading into the depths of the unknown.

The idea completely _thrilled_ her _—_ elated her much more than she'd expected to feel, the very notion that she'd begun to beguile herself in exploring what lay beyond the world that Ben saw through his eyes, the possibilities that rushed through his mind, firing one after one another as he kept his attention wholly on her, captivating her in his own way.

And that was just like him, wasn't it? To match her like this, in every way, her mind gradually lowering her shields so that she was as much accessible to him now as he was to her, so much so that it seemed that their thoughts had finally blended all together, as if the stars in their minds had all collided, until her reality became his and his became hers.

Even their temptation for each other was a battle.

But no _,_ she thought stubbornly, she refused to let go of herself. To let go of herself right then _—_ to face the possibility of the possibilities he'd offered and piled at her feet again, _so soon—_ would be no different than what had transpired between them in Snoke's throne room.

So she danced on, teetering over the edge of her mind, letting him watch her as she became something so much more than herself before his very eyes.

It wasn't a rejection of him or the prospects he offered...not really, not outright. No—this was _something else_ : a denial, yes, but the expectation of what would come afterwards was also present.

_Rewards come willingly to those who wait in patience and wisdom, as they say._

The world was dyed in the color of their mutual need, ceaseless and unrelenting, until finally...the connection broke, and her surroundings came back to her once more, the ground underneath her solidifying once again, as abrupt as it had first seemed to melt away from everything else that separated the two of them.

She finished the dance with a climactic bow towards the seller, and when she finally found the courage to turn around, she saw it, laying innocently on the ground, a thousand different meanings with it, the only indication that he'd ever been there with her: a black leather glove.   

The Force didn't connect them again for some time: by Rey's estimates, about a month. But by then, the Resistance was well beyond Onderon and out of the Japrael System. It was as though the Force had deemed it necessary to give them both time to savor the memory of that day, to let it grow in the forest of their minds, another pillar to this bond of theirs that stretched across the entire breadth of the galaxy.

So when their bond did open again, it really came as no surprise to either of them that this time, they were much more prepared.

She had been repairing the rims of the hyperdrive on the Millenium Falcon when it happened, and she lowered her tools, standing up from where she was crouched, her demeanor calm. As the last time, he was behind her again, but he was much closer now, and she could feel the warmth of his back radiating across from hers, neither one of them willing to break the silence just yet.

But time had given him enough courage to be bold, it would appear, and he slowly reached back to touch his hand to hers, cautious, wordlessly seeking her permission, even as his voice finally broke the lull between them, sounding less hesitant than the last time and like always, sincere. "You were _breathtaking_. The most beautiful I've ever seen."

Rey felt the warmth bloom inside her chest, her cheeks pink, her fingers lightly clasping around his. She looked over her shoulder, pleased to see a portion of his ear peeking from his thick hair, red at the tips, his cheeks blushing just as well.

_'Ah,'_ she thought with faint realization. _'All this time, I finally know what it was I'd been waiting for.'_

She smiled towards him, the echo of the Force between them reverberating with contentment.

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it this far, thanks so much for taking the time to read this short story of mine!


End file.
